“Yes, you will,” came his definite reply.
I swallowed a retort and let the door shut behind me, determined to have the upper hand when I returned the next morning.
Sweetheartmy ass.
Chapter3
Darius
Iwatched the woman go with fire in my eyes.Arousal, strong and true, flared within, surprising me at this sheer scope of need for the stubborn human.
In the endless days spent in this tedious world, I hadn’t once felt such intensity about a woman as I did this one.And I didn’t even know her.Obviously, my body recognized our perfect chemistry, even if she was a little too bossy for her own good.
And too brave.Out in the dark on her own, in this city, was a recipe for disaster.Walking into an empty bar, then descending into a darkened basement?I could have been anyone just waiting to pluck ripe fruit from the tree of temptation.
Blasted woman.Humans needed more sense.
I returned to cleaning up the rest of the club.Perhaps fortune finally smiled upon me.What else but fate could be responsible for my decision to switch clean-up shifts and then to stay late so Mike could leave early to be with his girlfriend?
I had thought to leave a half-hour ago but for some reason had delayed returning home.I couldn’t help a grin, recalling the full breasts recently pressed against my chest.Perhaps I was a little too hasty in my dislike for this world.There had been nothing unpleasant about Samantha Brooks’s tight little body.
Returning the large trash bins to their places, I threw all the cleaning supplies back in storage and locked the door behind me as I left.
As the cold rain pounded from the heavens, I walked to my truck.Once inside the old Blazer, I quickly radiated enough heat from my body to warm the entire vehicle and melt the ice from the windshield.
Couldn’t Arim have sent us to a place where the weather was at least comparable to Tanselm’s pleasant temperatures?In the miserable year I’d been in this Seattle, I had yet to see a day’s warmth near that of Tanselm’s growing season.Plus, I’d witnessed all kinds of deviants doing all manner of things in the bar’s parking lot.
And not all the deviants had been human, either.
Seattle had its fair share of monsters—those magir (of magic) who weren’t human.If I had to separate one more goblin from mugging a drunken mortal, I might seriously set something on fire.My brothers thought it was funny, but they didn’t have to deal with the fallout of human police when something weird went down.My fake IDs would only go so far.
I headed home for the place I shared with my brothers and felt another bout of homesickness coming—which I could never share for fear of being called pathetic.
In my mind’s eye, I breathed the pure air of my homeland, saw amidst the clear blue sky canopies of the western territory’s legendary rilk trees.
Funny, but the glorious leaves dotting Tanselm’s sky were the same shade as Samantha Brooks’s eyes.
My thoughts took a swift turn as I drove toward Green Lake.At this rate, Tanselm would be all but destroyed before we returned.Not for lack of trying, but because not one of us could find a woman with the fortitude or mindset to accept our way of life.
And I’d know.I’d tried.
In the beginning, I had figured to use sex as a means to find a mate.Unfortunately, my many couplings left me physically sated but spiritually drained.At least in Tanselm, the women I slept with fed that natural part of me needing a deeper contact, an awareness of life around them.
Here on this plane, the women I’d joined for sex had given me physical pleasure and little more.And truth be told, the sex hadn’t been that great.No mental stimulation, just games and more games, especially once they realized I had three identical brothers.
And it wasn’t just the humans who didn’t suit.None of the magir did.I’d tried lycans, witches, mages, and even a dryad.The few fae I’d encountered were the worst, because they reminded me of home but were just different enough not to suit.And that hurt even more.
Grimacing, I pulled into the drive of a monstrous house overlooking the lake, an abode barely befitting the Royal Four, but it seemed the best we could hope for in this world.
I parked behind Cadmus’s Jeep and next to Marcus’s BMW.Aerolus had yet to purchase a vehicle, and considering his new penchant for teleportation, I didn’t see my oddball brother buying one.
Much as I was glad for the respite from the rain, I couldn’t help glaring at the inside of my truck—a mechanical monstrosity shielding me from nature.What I wouldn’t give for a horse.
Climbing down from the bulky vehicle, I headed for the front door.I entered to find the house dark and made my way quietly to my bedroom on the second floor.Having lived our first few months in this realm in the wilderness, living off the land, I freely admitted to liking the comfort of this house, as small and feebly constructed as it was.
Not made of rock or steel, the house had been built of wood and brick, all substances that would melt under my blistering touch.In fact, nothing here could withstand a sorcerer’s attack, with the exception of me and my brothers.They never used the odd security device previously installed in the house.As if four Storm Lords needed protection from any of these inhabitants.
In my room, I discarded my clothing, draping my coat on a chair but dumping the rest on the floor.Moving into the adjoining bathroom, I gratefully removed the contacts clouding my vision.Setting the brown lenses in solution, I looked up at my reflection, glad to see myself once again.
